1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of adjustable hinge mounts for doors, and in particular to an adjustable hinge mount disposed in a door frame, and particularly adapted to correct the alignment of pre-hung doors which may become misaligned due to settling and temperature cycling.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The usual metal door frame and/or door is constructed of relatively thin sheet material. Often the sheet material for a door is placed around a filler or a frame, usually of wood. A comparable frame or jamb is generally also of thin metal, and is attached to wooden members secured at the edges of the door opening at roughly the required position of the frame. In order to provide a secure attachment for hinges, notwithstanding the thinness of the material on which hinges are mounted, a mounting bracket of substantially heavier metal has been attached to the inner surface of the body of a door. Reference may be made to U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,323,757 and '758--Gogay, 2,853,162--David et al and 3,690,037--Kempel. Such mounting brackets may be flat (e.g., Kempel) or indented (e.g. Gogay), whereby the hinge leaf attached to the mount may be flush mounted. Two hinge leaves, rotatably attached to one another, are secured respectively to the frame or doorjamb upon which the door swings and to the door itself.
Mounting brackets such as those disclosed in the foregoing patents provide a secure attachment for the hinge leaf via screws passing through the hinge leaf and threaded into the mounting bracket. The mounting bracket rather than the hinge leaf is directly attached to the body of the door. The forces to which the door is subjected are spread over a relatively large area as the mounting bracket is substantially longer than the hinge leaf, the mounting bracket being attached to the door body at or near its ends, relatively far from the hinge leaf.
Usually the mounting bracket is welded directly to the inner surface of the metal door body (e.g., Gogay '757) but may be bolted to the door body or attached by a combination of bolts and welds (e.g., Gogay '758). Of course welding or otherwise permanently attaching the mounting bracket to the hinging body precludes any adjustment. Such is the usual condition for "pre-hung" doors or frames, the positions of the hinge mounts being precisely set at the factory and immovably locked.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,690,037--Kempel discloses an adjustable mount for a door, wherein a mounting bracket is at first only loosely mounted inside a metal door body by means of slack rivets extending through oversized holes in the body. There is no direct attachment between the mounting bracket and the door body, other than that provided upon assembly, when the continuous sheet material of the door body at and adjacent the hinge leaf is clamped between the hinge leaf and the mounting bracket by tightening the screws extending through the hinge leaf and through oversized holes in the door body, into the bracket.
The Kempel adjustable mounting means lacks any reference to an aligned position of the door. When a door according to the Kempel disclosure is built or mounted, a user must take care to set the hinges at an appropriate position within the range of adjustment. Inasmuch as no means of defining a central or starting position is provided, the user must manually move the door or mounting bracket with respect to one another across the range of adjustment, holding the same at or near the desired part of the range of adjustment before tightening the screws attaching the hinge leaf to the mounting bracket, thereby rigidly connecting the hinge leaf and the door body. The procedure is necessary both upon installation and upon later adjustment. The adjustment technique can preclude any subsequent adjustment if any of the brackets are accidentally left at the wrong extreme of the range of adjustment. In addition, the respective axes of rotation defined by each of a series of hinges can thereby become accidentally misaligned, making the door difficult to swing, subject to warping or even inoperable.
As a building settles, doorjambs tend to deform into the shape of a parallelogram, and may also lean inwards or outwards with respect to the swing of the door. Since the hinged side of the doorjamb is likely to be attached to a heavier structural member than the latch side, the latch side of the doorjamb will not remain aligned, but will sink relative to the other side, in which event the edge of the door body must be planed or the hinges must be readjusted in order to avoid contact between the door body and the horizontal members of the doorjamb. If the doorjamb leans inward or outward, the door will tend to swing open or closed when unlatched, necessitating adjustment of the hinges to bring the hinging axis back to vertical. These same problems in alignment can also occur as a result of errors in construction of a new doorjamb.
The present invention concerns an adjustable hinge mount for a door in which one or both of the door and frame are "pre-hung". The door may be initially mounted with each of the hinges at corresponding known alignments, and thereafter conveniently adjusted within a range of adjustment to correct misalignment, sagging or leaning of the doorjamb. Separate fasteners rigidly attach the hinge leaf to the mounting bracket and rigidly but adjustably attach the mounting bracket to the body of the frame and/or door. The hinges are set at standard positions by mounting the hinge leaves at a known alignment on the jamb or door, the position tactilely indicated by notches in the adjustment holes. Preferably the notches indicate the extreme which will permit maximum adjustment of the door in the direction the doorjamb is expected to sag. The notches in the adjustment holes are dimensioned to encompass the bolts attaching the mounting bracket to the body, forming detents at which the body and mounting bracket may be initially connected. The entire range of adjustment is therefore reserved, while the "pre-hung" door is at least initially automatically and precisely aligned with the jamb.
The adjustable hinge mount of the invention is preferably placed in the door frame, whereby the hinging axis can be adjusted to plumb. In this manner, the vertical position of the door, the hinging axis and the fit of the door against the stops can be each precisely set. The adjustable mount may be set in the door as well, however, not all the foregoing adjustments are thus provided.